Hello again I hope everyboy's doing good out there because i know I'm feeling blessed just to be playing basketball to this day.. I know it's been a few weeks since my last blog so there's definitely a lot that has gone on in between time.. Starting off with our tough game against the top team the Wakiato Pistons.. I had heard great things about this team and i certainly found out why there were the 2 time defending league champions[read more]
Hello again I hope everyboy's doing good out there because i know I'm feeling blessed just to be playing basketball to this day.. I know it's been a few weeks since my last blog so there's definitely a lot that has gone on in between time.. Starting off with our tough game against the top team the Wakiato Pistons.. I had heard great things about this team and i certainly found out why there were the 2 time defending league champions.. They were very well coached and fundamentally sound all around there team.. There post players were very active and the guards handled our pressure and shot the ball terrific the whole game!! (65%) to be exact so they were smoking hot especially in the second half.. The following week we had a players coach meeting which we feel has truly helped our team in which we are working on our weaknesses the most in practice now which is our defense.. May 21st we had a big game with the Manawatu Jets seeing we needed the win to stay in the race for the playoffs.. With the leading scorer of the league, Darryl Hudson (196-G-85, college: Howard) on their team we knew we had our hands full.. Especially because the other American import, Richard Jeter (198-G/F-80, college: Atlanta Metro JC) was just as dangerous as Hudson.. Thank goodness we were able to do a good job on both of them limiting Hudson to only 12 points and holding Jeter scoreless.. It was a much needed win for the team to give us some momentum going into our final home game the next week.. Its funny how basketball works seeing you might have a horrible game one night and then the next night could be the best of your season.. Richard Jeter did just that seeing he was scoreless in our game and then came back with an all star performance with 34 points shooting 6/9 from the 3.. A lot of people think that we just get to relax when we're not at practice or a game, if only that was the case!! We have coaching sessions at different schools around the town so that definitely keeps us busy during the week Monday through thursday.. Watching the kids run around and get tired makes it all worth while though! This past friday night we had our last home game of the season in front of a sellout crowd of 2,500 people and they had to turn down 200 people.. We were able to put together 2 strong halves against the North Harbour Heat who had gave us a pretty good beating up at their gym in Auckland.. My roommate Mike Helms (184-G-82, college: Oakland) was able to have a great game for us scoring 30 points as well as Arthur Trousdell (203-F-81, college: Cameron) being our X factor with a strong 17 points and 9 rebounds.. It was a great win for our team as well as our home crowd.. They have been great all season for us and I feel we've got the best atmosphere in the league!! With only one month left we have 4 huge road games which are vital to our playoff run.. It's nice to have another bye week to get prepared for the final stretch.. We're in a three way race for the 6th and final spot for the playoffs with the Christchurch Cougars and the Teranaki Dynamos.. We have a big game with the Teranaki Dynamos at their place so that should be big game for both sides.. Until next time i hope everyone has a blessed day!!
Whats up everybody?? Just want to wish all the mothers out there a happy mothers' day!! Love you mom!!! A lot has gone on in the past 2 weeks since my last blog starting off with us renewing our rivalry with the Otago Nuggets where we were able to beat them and win the ILT Southland Shield.. The orange ruffies were well prepared for the Nuggets when they came to our place.. Orange outfits all over the place and plenty of great signs all throughout the crowd[read more]
Whats up everybody?? Just want to wish all the mothers out there a happy mothers' day!! Love you mom!!! A lot has gone on in the past 2 weeks since my last blog starting off with us renewing our rivalry with the Otago Nuggets where we were able to beat them and win the ILT Southland Shield.. The orange ruffies were well prepared for the Nuggets when they came to our place.. Orange outfits all over the place and plenty of great signs all throughout the crowd.. It was a great win for our team going into a bye week which was much needed in order to keep us on track for the playoffs.. During our off week we were able to catch up on a lot of coaching at the different schools all around Invercargill.. One school in particular, Thornbury elementary stuck out more than any other school seeing there were chicken hens out walking around after lunch time.. My teammate Mike Helms (184-G-82, college: Oakland) was not a fan of this at all and almost had a collision with of them if I didn't warn him of the hen coming from his blind side!! ha ha good times and some great memories thats for sure!! The bye week was a great look because we were able to rest up and get prepared for the second half of the season.. This past weekend we hosted the Wellington Saints and once again we had another amazing crowd but couldn't pull out the win in the end.. Eric Devendorf (193-G-87, college: Syracuse) and Nick Horvath (208-F/C-81, college: Duke) hurt us all night and much credit is given to their team defense as well.. We had a great first half but just wasn't able to keep it going and ended up going ice cold in the second half.. It was a frustrating night for myself especially seeing i shot 3 for 18 in the game and definitely lost my composure towards the end of the game, the saying is so true that 'every dog has its day!!'.. Mike and Gareth Dawson (C) played great for us and our latest addition Arthur Trousdell (203-F-81, college: Cameron) played good as well.. Only thing to do is to work out even harder and put myself in a better situation next time around.. Next up for us is the top team the Waikiato Pistons so we're really looking forward to getting after them and trying to get back on track.. Have a great week and talk to you soon!!
Hello again I apologize for taking forever to post my next blog entry so I definitely have a lot to feel you in on.. We've had two games since my last entry our first game was at home against the Nelson Giants who are very good team that made it all the way to the finals last year.. We knew we had our hands full especially with our other American import Mike Rose departing and our other import Mike Helms not arriving until the week after the game[read more]
Hello again I apologize for taking forever to post my next blog entry so I definitely have a lot to feel you in on.. We've had two games since my last entry our first game was at home against the Nelson Giants who are very good team that made it all the way to the finals last year.. We knew we had our hands full especially with our other American import Mike Rose departing and our other import Mike Helms not arriving until the week after the game.. In the end Daniel Mundane and Ian Cathcart stepped up big for and provided a big boost off the bench for us.. The giants did a great job of fighting off our comebacks and came out with a tough win in our place.. We lost by two which always tough because maybe a layup here or a few free throws down the stretch could have put us over the top to get us the win.. Our fans were great that night with almost 2,400 people coming out to the game! Our team held a basketball camp for kids that same week which was a lot of fun and gave us a good chance to interact with some of our biggest fans.. Our most recent game was this past saturday on the 17th against our southern rivals the Otago Nuggets.. Although the nuggets are winless they really gave us a run for our money and even had our backs against the ropes with us being down by 11 at half time.. The nuggets were playing with out their top import Antoine Tisby so they were really playing great as a team even without their best player.. We came out to start the 2nd half with a lot of energy and battled back into the game very quickly.. We were able to take the lead before the end of the 3rd quarter and just hung on to the beat the nuggets in the end..We had to play without our center Martin Iti (213-C-83, college: N.Mexico St.) because he was poked in the eye and had to get 4 stitches on his right eye lid.. Ian Cathcart stepped up once again and did a great job hounding the nuggets best player Tyler Amaya (199-F-82, college: W.Washington) and our big man Garreth Dawson played huge for us grabbing all kind of rebounds.. Coach definitely wasn't happy with our overall performance seeing that we played down to our competition but have to give the nuggets a lot of credit for they played their hearts out for their home crowd.. The nuggets are traveling up to the Shark cage this weekend so we're hoping to see a great crowd behind us and hoping they get after our rivals as their crowd got after us!!! It's going into winter time here and seeing that our city (Invercargill) is the closest region to Antartica its getting really cold here!!! I gotta invest in some coats and thermals asap so i don't freeze to death!! Until next time god bless!!
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